With India trailing, will Jasprit Bumrah play at Edgbaston?

India returned to the nets on Friday after their travel from Leeds to Birmingham and a day off with a marathon training session of close to five hours.

While Jasprit Bumrah came to the ground, he didn't bowl or bat in the nets. As it was a closed-door training session, it was not possible to tell whether Bumrah was doing fitness work or bowling alone inside the ground. The nets session, though, was visible from the street. Bumrah's absence in the nets should not be a sign by itself because all three main fast bowlers from the last match - Bumrah, Prasidh Krishna and Mohammed Siraj - stayed away from batting. Siraj had a hit with the bat before he went off to join Bumrah and Prasidh inside the ground.

ESPNcricinfo, however, has learnt that Bumrah's chances of playing at Edgbaston are low. India picked him aware that he was going to be available for only three of the five Tests against England. The pre-decided combination, apparently, was the first and the third Test, and then a choice between the fourth and the fifth based on the state of the series. There are big gaps between the first and the second, and the third and the fourth Tests.

Editor's Picks

• 

  Gambhir calls for patience as Bumrah's blunting leaves attack exposed

  48dESPNcricinfo staff

• 

  Not all doom and gloom: India almost had England at Headingley

  47dSidharth Monga

• 

  ICC Test batting rankings: Pant moves to No. 7, Duckett enters top ten

  47dESPNcricinfo staff

However, it must be said that he hasn't yet been ruled out entirely for Edgbaston. The discussions around the combination have yet to begin, and if Bumrah feels good about his body, he could well turn up for the Test, which begins on Wednesday. India will have an optional training session on Saturday followed by a day off and then another long session on Monday.

Arshdeep Singh and Akash Deep bowled long spells in the nets. Arshdeep spent almost half the nets session bowling with an old, somewhat "made" ball. With the old ball, he went around the wicket to the right-hand batters. This could have been something India decided to do after looking at the conditions. They could well be expecting reverse swing to be a factor.

The general mood in the camp is to not overthink the defeat at Headingley, where they repeatedly got themselves in positions to dominate, but let it slip away. The message is to not make dramatic changes to how they play, but repeat the processes to get into strong positions again and then react better.